Automatic circulator for bleaching-keirs



(No Model.)

T. BOARDMAN. AUTOMATIC GIRGULATOR FOR. BLEAOHING KIEBS.

No. 439,331. Patented Jan. 3,1393. 3

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS BOARDMAN, OF WAREHOUSE POINT, CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC CIRCULATOR FOR BLEACHlNG-KEIRS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 1T0. 489,361, dated January3, 1893.

Application filed July 9, 1892. Serial No. 439A47. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS BOARDMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at the post-office of Warehouse Point, in the town of EastWindsor, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new and useful Automatic Ciroulator for Bleaching-Keirs, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines which have for theirobject the circulation of bleaching solutions in keirs, and it may beused as well to effect the circulation of any liquid used in closedtanks or vats.

The objects of my invention are, first, to make the movement of theliquid continuous by automatic pulsations thus allowing a constancy ofchemical action; second, to secure a completeness of action byaccomplishing the thorough permeation of the cloth or other substanceand rendering it certain that all portions will be infiltrated; andthirdly, to accomplish these results without danger of overheating orotherwise injuring the fabric. I attain these results by the mechanismindicated in the accompanying drawing, in whicha indicates the highpressure steam pipe coming from the boiler.

19 is the keir, broken sections being given to avoid the necessity ofdrawing the entire structure. Through the pipe 0 is admitted thebleaching liquid in such quantity as may be needed, running freely intothe pipes o and d,itslocation in the latter being indicated by thetest-glass e. The pipe d connects, by a downward opening, with the upperportion of the keir and also with a tubefupon which are affixed anindicator gage, a safety pressure valve and a vacuum valve.

The tube f is connected with the steam pipe by the pipe g, and in thisis inserted a small low-pressure pipe, h which runs thence to aregulator tin the steam pipe. The valve is maybe used to great advantagefor admitting steam to the keir for heating purposes when the bleachingprocess is commencing, but it is kept closed after the keir issufficiently heated. iVhen the bleaching is finished, the solution isejected at the blow-off Z.

The keir being now filled with cloth, and sufficient bleaching solutionin the pipes o and d, steam is admitted from the boiler. As it advancesthrough the nozzle m it finds before it the solution,nearly filling thetube 61 and it forces the solution up the pipe and over into the upperportion of the keir and above the cloth. This steam pressure is feltequally in f and g, and carried to the regulator 1 where it cuts oi thesupply. The keir then is in a condition where there is a pressure ofsteam on and over the liquor which is above the cloth, and, in thebottom of the keir, below the cloth, there is a partial vacuum. Thesolution is therefore drawn easily and thoroughly through the cloth,trickling into the lower part of the keir and partly filling the tube 01as at the first. The natural cooling of the upper part of the keir, withthe escape of the liquid, reduces the pressure there, the regulatoropens the steam valve, steam is again admitted into the steam pipe, thesolution again forced to the top of the keir, and the operation repeatsitself by regular pulsations once in two or three seconds, and continuesautomatically as long as may be needed to thoroughly bleach the cloth.This, however, would not be done except for the peculiar method by whichthe steam is forced against the solution.

The steam pipe a terminates in a tapering nozzle m which nozzle ends ina bell-shaped flange. The nozzle runs some little distance past thebottom of the keir n into the solution pipe. This solution pipe, at thatplace is contracted by a sleeve 0 which is so beveled at its end nearestthe blow-off that the bevel of the sleeve exactly corresponds in angleand direction, with the flange 011 the mouth of the nozzle. The flangeand nozzle do not touch as the opening is required for the free passageof the solution. By this peculiar shape of flange and bevel the steam,at that point, is spreadinto a continually expanding stream until itreaches the full size of the inner diameter of the tube. A solid plug ofsteam is thus forced against-the solution and it easily carries thewhole body of it along until it is emptied into the keir.

The sleeve 0 contracts the diameter of the pipe in which it is placed,so that the space between the sleeve and flange is not more than oneeighth of an inch. Ejection of the steam through the nozzle and thesmall dimension of this space makes a vacuum chamber the length of thesleeve. The vacuum chamber communicating with the bottom of the keirassists greatly in drawing the liquid through the fabric, until thebottom of the heir is filled with liquid that has worked completelythrough the cloth.

The arrangement here presented allows the use of steam of any pressurefrom the boiler, and even of super-heated steam. At no stage of thebleaching process does steam alone touch the fabric. It must be alwaysin presence of the bleaching solution and the fabric itself be alwayswet with the liquid.

\Vhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

The combination, in a bleaching keir, of the tapering nozzle an, endingin a flanged mouth, corresponding in angle and direction with the sleeveof an inclosing tube con tracted to nearly the size of the nozzle, whichit approaches but does not touch, substantially as shown in theaccompanying drawings, the nozzle being open at the other end to a steamsupply, and the inclosing tube being connected with, and forming partof, a chamber at the bottom of the keir in which the solution collects,the chamber and tube being extended to the upper portion of the keir,while the keir itself is air tight, and has a connection at its upperpart with a steam regulator by which, as the pressure falls in theupper-portion of the keir, steam is admitted into the nozzle aforesaid,and shut off as the pressure rises.

THOMAS BOARDMAN.

Witnesses:

JAMES J. QUINN, J. G. CALHOUN.

